Macungie Girl, 12, Not Rejecting New Liver Briefly

November 19, 1985|The Morning Call

Twelve-year-old Michele Frey of Macungie showed no signs of rejecting her new liver yesterday, three days after her transplant surgery at Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh. She may be moved out of the intensive care unit by today.

A hospital spokeswoman said the girl remained in critical condition, the usual listing for transplant patients in the unit.

The hospital cares for 15 liver transplant patients at any given time, the spokeswoman said, and it is common for such patients to remain in intensive care for five to seven days. If Frey made the change to a private room during the night, she would have been in ICU only three nights.

Michele, a daughter of Frank and Dottie Frey, is a junior high school student. She needed the transplant because of an ailment that caused her liver to fail and her spleen to become enlarged.